Changes
by Michelle285
Summary: There have been some changes and Mary doesn't like it.  Can she reverse the changes? AU. On HIATUS for the time being.  Sorry all.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I still down own these characters. _

_A/N: Wow, this has been at least a year in the making, I can't believe it's finally finished. Since I wrote it so long ago, nothing in the last season has happened yet. In fact, I haven't even gotten around to watching all the episodes of the last season; some of them are still chilling in my DVR! Anyway, you didn't need to know that, back to the stuff you do need to know. BuJyo is the MOST AMAZING beta in the world! She read through this fic numerous times making sure everything fit. If she hadn't…well let's just say this wouldn't be posted and it definitely wouldn't be very good. Alright, after these rambles, we can get to the story now. Enjoy! _

_At the tone, please record your message. When you have finished recording you may hang up or press one for more options._ Mary sighed as she began to speak. It was just like him to not record his own message.

"Hey, it's me, Mary. I hope things are going well with you. I know, I don't usually leave voicemails, especially not to you, because you know better than to ignore my calls, and I haven't left one yet, but…well, now I want to and you have every right to ignore my calls now.

"It's been four months and two weeks since you left, but I still refuse to go on a transfer with anyone. Stan goes with me if I must transfer a witness and that's almost worse than going with any replacements. I hate going on long trips with anyone but you. Stan can really get annoying after a while. Then again, at least I know Stan has my back. I trust Stan more than I do any of your replacements. I would much rather have you though. I always felt safer with you.

"I also have to do my own paperwork now. That new kid, Tony, would definitely fill it out wrong. He can barely fill out his own paperwork. Besides, even if he could fill it out correctly, I'm scared he might fill it out wrong just so I wouldn't push it off on him anymore, and then I would have to check it anyway, so I don't see the point in giving it to him if I'm just going to check it after he does it. I'm actually surprised you never did that. I was complaining to Stan about filling out my own paperwork and he said I got lucky with you. He was right, but I'm sure you knew that and were just waiting for me to figure it out, so…thank you. I never knew how good you really were to me. It was more than that though. You did more than my paperwork. You kept me going. You picked up my slack, you were my…my anchor.

"I'm going to get cut off soon by the voicemail, so I guess I'll go now. I just wanted to give you an update on what's going on around here. I know it was my fault that you left and I know that I have no right to ask you to come back, nor will you ever have a reason to come back again. I guess it seemed like I wanted you to leave, but you know I say things without thinking and I'm glad you listen to me so well, but you should have known I didn't mean what I said. I'm going to go now, it's just…God, Marshall, I miss you. Maybe someday when I call, the hate you have for me will have diminished and we can actually talk. I'm truly sorry, Marshall. Goodbye."

Mary sat down on the couch and squeezed her eyes shut. _Don't cry, don't cry_ Mary repeated like a mantra in her head. That had been her mantra since the day Marshall left; her life just wasn't the same without him.

When she had finally composed herself, she got up from the couch, threw her notes for the voicemail (yes, she made notes of what she wanted to say, this call was a big deal for her and she couldn't let her emotions get the best of her) in the trash and began to walk towards the kitchen to fix dinner. She changed her mind on the way to the kitchen and reached for her phone again to call take-out. Cooking dinner in that kitchen after the phone call would just be too much for her today.

_Hmm…didn't you just read my rambles like 626 words ago? Yes, yes you did. This was a very very short chapter. I realize that and I am very sorry, but I wanted to hook you. Did I? If I did, I'll continue, with (hopefully) longer chapters in the future. If I didn't, well then I guess I won't continue at all. Please leave me a review so I know what to do and thanks for reading! _


	2. Chapter 2

_ Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own these wonderful characters. _

_ A/N: A reviewer pointed out to me that I didn't mention the timeline! Oops! If you were confused, I'm so very sorry. This is technically an AU story. It doesn't really have a particular point in the show when it happened. So, I guess in the first chapter I didn't really need to tell you that nothing from season 4 has happened. Sorry again! Thanks so much to the most amazing beta in the world BuJyo. Without her, this story wouldn't be good. Enjoy! _

He listened to the voicemail three times. After three times, he still wanted to listen to it again, even if it was just to hear her voice. It had been much too long. He really hadn't been near his phone when she called and hadn't heard it ring, or he would have answered it. As she said, he knew better than to ignore her calls, and he wouldn't ignore them on purpose anyway…if anything, habit would have made him pick up.

The first time he heard the message, he was too surprised to actually listen to the words. The second time he just listened to the sound of her voice and smiled, because he thought that she probably made notes for the call. What she was saying sounded methodical and planned. The third time he actually listened to the words and went over their meaning in his head.

Yes, she said she trusted him more than Stan or the 'new kid' (he wondered why she didn't call that Tony her partner). She said she had to do her own paperwork, and although Marshall had thought about filling out her paperwork wrong numerous times, the thought hadn't been entertained for very long. He would never do that to her, because he knew she wouldn't check it, and because he had gotten very used to her as his partner. She said she missed him, and really sounded like she meant it. Although he had left of his own accord, it was her that drove him to it, and it sounded as though she knew it and she had said she didn't mean it. He also could tell that she wanted him to come back. After having worked with Mary for so long, he had become quite experienced at reading between the lines.

The thing that disturbed Marshall the most, though, was when she said he hated her. Marshall may have hated leaving, may have hated what she said and did which caused him to leave, he may have even been angry with her for a while, but he had never, ever hated her. He wanted to call Mary back and tell her he didn't hate her. She would believe it; she could always read the tone of his voice. But after hearing her voice, he had a strange urge to see her and talk to her, face-to-face.

Before he could talk himself out of it, he got on his laptop and booked himself a plane ticket to Albuquerque. It was leaving very early the next morning and he figured by that time he would still think going was a decent idea, maybe not a good idea, but at least it wouldn't have reached horrible yet.

The next thing he had to do was make a call.

"Hello, Marshall!" the female voice said on the other end of the line.

"You love that caller ID don't you, Pam?" Marshall said, teasing her.

"It's the greatest invention ever," Pamela agreed. "Don't you want to tell me where it came from?"

"Listen Pam," Marshall began, ignoring her question. As much as he wanted to tell her that the first patent for caller ID was issued to Theodore George "Ted" Paraskevakos in Greece in 1969, he knew that if he did so, he wouldn't be able to stop talking about it. Also, she actually enjoyed listening to his trivia, so she would ask more and more questions and they would never get to the reason he called.

"I just wanted to call and let you know that I'm going to have to cancel dinner tonight," Marshall told her. "I'm sorry, I know it's really short notice, but I have to take a flight to Albuquerque tomorrow morning and it's leaving at 5 a.m."

"Oh, no!" Pam exclaimed. "You promised to tell me about the history of diaries and what psychologists think about it."

Marshall sighed. "I know, but…"

"Wait!" Pam interrupted. "Did you say Albuquerque? Isn't that where you used to live? Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine," Marshall assured her. "I just…have to take care of something."

"Well, can I get a rain check on the dinner?" Pamela asked. "And the diary information? I really want to know why people keep one, since I'm one of the ones who do. And I'd much rather hear you tell it than to just look it up on the internet myself."

Marshall smiled. "I'm flattered, but I'm not really sure when I'll be back."

"Oh," Pamela said. "So she finally called."

"What?" Marshall asked, confused.

"The girl you told me about the first time we went out," Pamela tried to clarify. "Did you call her Mary?"

"Yes, that's her name," Marshall affirmed. "But how do you know she called?"

Pamela shrugged her shoulders, although Marshall couldn't see her. "You always said you would go back if she called. So I'm just assuming she did. I think it's great, Marshall, really I do."

"Are you sure?" Marshall questioned, just to make sure. He did feel bad that he was just ditching her. He had known her for four months after all, and she was a great comfort when he was sad about Mary. He didn't view their outings as dating, but she could have definitely taken it that way. He wasn't exactly discouraging the idea, after all. She was nice and could be pretty funny as well. She liked his trivia…but after Mary hating it for so long and telling him to stop during everything, someone liking it was just a little too weird for him.

"Of course I'm sure, Marshall," Pamela assured him laughing. "You've known me for four months, but you've known her for much, much longer. She definitely has dibs."

"But…" Marshall tried to argue.

"Marshall," Pamela cut in again. "It's fine. I completely understand. You're a really nice man. I knew I had no chance with you though. You will always be in love with her. I hope you get your happily ever after. Good luck. Bye."

Marshall smiled at her understanding ways. "Thanks. I'll need the luck. Goodbye."

After he had hung up he still felt a little guilty about leaving a girl who had been wonderful to him and really liked him to go back to a girl who was nothing but rude to him, a girl who didn't even want him. Yet, the girl that was rude to him and didn't want him was the girl he loved. He remembered his uncle telling him that you couldn't help the girl you loved and he definitely knew that was true.

Marshall suddenly realized that if he was planning on…visiting… Albuquerque, but more importantly the Sunshine Building, he couldn't just walk in. He should probably call Stan.

"Stan McQueen here," Stan answered his buzzing phone.

"Hey, Stan. It's Marshall."

"Well, it's about time you called," Stan told him, a bit relieved. "Hold on a minute."

Stan's voice became muffled and Marshall inferred that he was talking to Mary, Eleanor and that new guy, Tony. "I'm going into my office to talk on the phone. Eleanor, watch her. And Mary, please behave. Stop throwing paper wads at your—at Tony."

Mary threw another paper wad. "Stop it!" Stan repeated. "He's not used to this kind of treatment."

"If he's going to be working with me, he's going to have to get used to it," Mary reasoned.

"Well, give him a few more weeks," Stan told her, secretly hoping that Marshall was on the phone to get his job back. This office was much better and Mary was much more controlled with Marshall in it. "Now stop and behave. You're not four."

"You have a phone call to get to," Mary reminded him, changing the subject.

Stan rolled his eyes and spoke back into the phone, "Sorry about that."

"Mary is still wreaking havoc on the office I see," Marshall guessed.

Stan closed the door to his office. "She's as surly as ever. Probably more bad days then good days since you left."

Marshall wrinkled his brow. "She doesn't like her new partner?"

"No," Stan said.

"He can't be that bad," Marshall said.

"I mean, no, don't call him her new partner," Stan tried to clarify.

"Why not?" Marshall asked. "Isn't he? She called, left me a voicemail and told me about 'my replacement' Tony."

"Yes," Stan agreed. "But that's all he is. He's your replacement. She says you will always be her partner, no matter what."

"Oh," Marshall said, a bit surprised. "I'm sure he loves that."

"Well, he's a bit quiet," Stan admitted. "And a bit of a pushover."

"A pushover," Marshall repeated. "Working with Mary?"

"You were a pushover too," Stan reminded Marshall.

"Yes, but not like that," Marshall defended himself. "If something needed to be said, or if Mary needed to be pushed, I would push her."

"Yeah, she worked a lot better when you were in the office," Stan confided in Marshall. "Everything worked a lot better when you were in the office. So, I'm hoping the reason your calling me is because you realized you can't live without working in WITSEC, and you're going to proceed to beg me for your job back."

"Well, not exactly," Marshall said.

"Damn," Stan said. "So why are you calling me then?"

"I was going to come visit," Marshall told Stan. "And I was just wondering if that was okay."

"That depends on what you mean by coming to visit," Stan said. "Do you mean come back, see how much you loved it here and _then_ proceed to beg me for your job back? Or do you mean come back, get Mary all riled up and then leave us to deal with her? Which one?"

"I don't know yet," Marshall admitted.

"Well, I think you know which one you'd better say if you want me to agree to let you visit," Stan prompted Marshall. He was going to get that man back in the job and back with Mary if it killed him!

"Well, how about this," Marshall began to barter. "If you let me come, if or when I decide to leave, I will talk Mary down before I do."

"You can come," Stan agreed. "On one condition. You have to fix what happened between you two. I don't care what it takes, just do it."

"How do you know it was something between us?" Marshall questioned Stan.

Stan eyes widened. The reason he knew, well, that was something that he shouldn't tell Marshall. Mary would kill him. "I just know."

"It doesn't really matter what happened," Marshall told Stan. "It happened and I left—"

"It matters," Stan cut Marshall off. "Trust me it matters. So help yourself, help Mary…help us_ all_…and just fix it."

Marshall nodded while sighing. "I'll certainly try."

_And now you know what happened to Marshall. I'll try to get the next chapter up sooner, I'm sorry this one took a bit longer than I anticipated. Please tell me what you think about this chapter so I know if you still want to read! Drop me a review and thanks for reading! _


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I don't own this stuff! _

_A/N: Well, you had some guesses as to why Marshall left, but I'm not saying anything yet. Thanks to BuJyo, who is an amazing beta! My latest installment: enjoy! _

Eleanor stared at Mary while the other woman mumbled and pulled paper from her printer and crumbled it. Nosily! Again perturbed and making no bones about disturbing the whole office while she complained. Her behavior had not improved since Marshall left, and no amount of pleading and correcting by her and Stan ever seemed to make a difference. For the thousandth time, Eleanor wished Marshall would find a reason to return. She hoped he might since Stan informed her he was visiting for a few days. The ringing of the phone startled her out of her musings and gave her just enough time to duck a wayward paper wad from an irritated Mary.

"Hey, it's Marshall."

"Oh, how are you?" Eleanor asked. She wanted to ask him if he was here yet, but she couldn't do that without giving away his identity. She also knew Mary didn't know Marshall was coming.

"Fine. I'm at the airport," Marshall informed Eleanor. "Do you think you could come pick me up?"

"I can't, I'm sorry," Eleanor apologized. "Stan is out and about though. I'll see if he can come get you."

"Oh, so you're watching the office?" Marshall assumed. "More accurately, Mary."

Eleanor smiled. "Yes, someone has to these days."

"Well, will you call Stan and see if he can come get me?" Marshall questioned. Marshall knew he could always catch a cab, but he wanted detailed information on things that were going on in the office since he left and he wanted insight into what Mary might be like if he came back.

"Of course," Eleanor agreed. "Bye."

"Bye," Marshall repeated, hanging up.

Tony got up out of his chair and Eleanor watched closely. She knew he was going to try to talk to Mary about something and she might need to intervene. She would call Stan after this.

Tony turned to Mary. "I'm going to get something to eat."

"Great, get me something," Mary commanded, without even looking up.

"I meant I'm going to go eat someplace," Tony amended. "Order my food, sit down there and eat it."

"Why?" Mary asked. "Just bring something back for you and me. What's the use of sitting by yourself?"

"You could come with me," Tony suggested. "Then I wouldn't be sitting by myself and we could talk."

"I don't want to talk to you," Mary told Tony bluntly. "Just get me a hamburger and fries and come back with your meal."

"How do you know where I'm going will have a hamburger and fries," Tony questioned. "But if you don't want to come then I'm not going to bring you back anything."

Mary, looking at her computer screen, rolled her eyes. They went through this routine every day, but it wasn't always about lunch. She turned in her chair and glared at Tony. She knew it would take a total of 10 seconds, if that long, before he would cave and just bring back the food.

"Okay fine, I'll be back," Tony agreed.

After Tony walked out, Mary groaned. "He is beyond annoying."

"Mary…" Eleanor began.

"Don't. I know what you're going to say, so don't. I have to push him, Eleanor," Mary told her.

"Do you have to do it every time?" Eleanor wondered. "Can you give in a few times too?"

"No," Mary answered simply. "If Tony is going to work with me, he'll have to learn to push back at me. _He _would have made me come with him or he wouldn't have brought anything back. _He _probably wouldn't have even gone to a hamburger place. And I could always tell that _he _was serious."

Eleanor sighed. She knew the _he_ Mary was referring to was Marshall. She would never use Marshall's name unless she had to, which was only when she was correcting somebody who referred to Tony as her partner, but she usually let Stan or Eleanor correct the person. After the correction had transpired, Mary usually left the office for about 10 or 15 minutes, which brought about complications if the person wanted to see Mary and Tony. Eleanor knew that talking about Marshall or even vaguely mentioning him would rock Mary's tightly held control and Mary wouldn't let anyone see her when she was anything less than in total control of everything. Eleanor, right now, was just waiting for Mary to get up and leave.

A few seconds later, just as Eleanor predicted, Mary got up saying, "I'll be back later."

Eleanor shook her head as she picked up the phone to call Stan about picking up Marshall at the airport. She hoped Marshall would end up taking his job back; the office needed him…Mary needed him.

Stan fairly bluntly told Eleanor he was much too busy to make airport shuttle runs, so she resigned herself to calling Marshall with a frustrated sigh. Stan could make it up to her later.

Just as she was getting ready to call Marshall, Tony walked back into the office. When he saw Mary wasn't there he turned to Eleanor. "Where did she go?"

Eleanor shrugged. "She just said she'd be back later."

Tony sighed. "Do you think I can throw this away?" Tony held up the bag he had brought back for Mary.

"I wouldn't do that just yet," Eleanor cautioned him.

"Yeah, she'll yell at me either way," Tony predicted.

"Tony," Eleanor started. "You should push back at her sometimes. She might respect you more if you do that."

"Are you kidding?" Tony asked. "She would kill me."

Eleanor shook her head. "She's all bark but no bite."

"She would kill me," Tony repeated. "Look, I'm going to take the rest of the afternoon off."

"Mary will still yell at you," Eleanor told him. She thought he was just trying to escape. "She'll just use the phone."

Tony shrugged. "At least I don't have to answer that. I could ignore her."

Eleanor smiled as he was walking out. "That's true." She knew Mary wouldn't waste time going to Tony's house and yelling. She didn't like him enough for that. Now, if it had been Marshall…

Speaking of Marshall, Eleanor realized that she could pick him up from the airport now though. She called Marshall to tell him she was coming and she gave him a condensed version of why. As she was getting ready to walk out of the office, Mary was coming back in.

"Where do you think you're going?" Mary asked Eleanor.

"I have to run a few errands," Eleanor told Mary. "Tony took the rest of the afternoon off. If you still want food, Tony put it on your desk. I'll be back later. Bye."

-%

Mary walked back over to her desk. She sat down and pulled out the food. She threw it away before even tasting it. She didn't really want it, she was just trying to make Tony grow some balls and push back. It didn't work, again.

She looked around the office and sighed. How did she survive before when no one was here. Oh yeah, she was never there by herself. Marshall was always with her. On the rare times he wasn't, she'd just call him and annoy the heck out of him. She missed those days. Oh, who was she kidding, she missed him. She hated herself for what she had done to him, but she couldn't take it back now. She quickly shook her head to clear these thoughts out of her mind. It was no use thinking about Marshall now. He wasn't coming back and there was nothing she could do about it.

Mary grabbed some paperwork and got up to walk out of the office. If Tony could take the afternoon off, so could she. At least she was going to be productive and do some paperwork. At home she could turn on the TV for some noise and that was what she was going to do. Mary couldn't help but sigh again. It was times like these that she really missed Marshall. Well, more than just the general ache that was always present in her heart. Mary told herself again that it was her fault and she resolved to stop thinking about it.

_ Hmmm, I'm not sure I'm totally satisfied. At least, I wasn't last night when I read over it. But, hopefully you guys will like it? Please review and let me know? Thanks for reading! _


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: I still do not own this stuff._

_A/N: This is kind of a filler chapter. It does tell you some of the things that have happened since Marshall left though. BuJyo is positively the best beta ever! Enjoy! _

"So, how is my replacement doing with Hurricane Mary?" Marshall jokingly asked Eleanor as she was driving him to a hotel.

"Which replacement?" Eleanor asked Marshall.

"Which one?" Marshall questioned. "I thought Tony was my replacement."

"He is now," Eleanor affirmed. "There was also Clint and George."

"She has had three partners in the span of four months?" Marshall asked, just to make sure she had this straight.

"No," Eleanor said. "Three replacements in the past four months. Mary tears into Stan or I if we call them her partner."

Marshall nodded. "Oh yeah, Stan told me that. What drove away the other candidates before this Tony?"

Eleanor smiled. "Mary. Clint only stayed for a month because Mary insisted on calling him Clint Eastwood."

"Oh, no!" Marshall exclaimed.

"Oh yes," Eleanor said. "He didn't handle her picking well at all! He could have just ignored her, but he didn't do that, he repeatedly told her to stop, which just egged her on.

"George stayed for two months. She called him George Clooney, but he dealt well with that. When she realized he was dealing with that, she moved on to the pushing. That's what got him."

"So, is she calling the latest guy Antonio Bandaras?" Marshall asked.

Eleanor laughed. "She did, but Tony laughed. When he thought it was funny and actually answered to it, she went on to pushing him. Tony just thinks that if he just does what she wants he'll be fine."

"That's not what she wants," Marshall stated.

"I know," Eleanor agreed. "She wants him to push back. I told Tony he should, but he thinks she will kill him."

Marshall chuckled in response. He remembered those days…in fact, he wasn't sure they ever were rid of those days.

Eleanor shook her head. "I don't know how she's ever going to get someone to partner with her. She's making it impossible. Mary's never going to accept that you aren't working there anymore."

"I think she knows she's going to have to get a replacement," Marshall countered. "I mean, everything she's doing to these guys, she did to me. She gave me a nickname; it wasn't a famous person's name, she much preferred to call me Doofus and Marshal Marshall, but it was still a nickname. Mary also always tried to get me to do things for her, and although I did usually do most of them, if she was being too ridiculous, I stopped her and refused to do something. In the beginning, I didn't do anything for her, I made her do her own paperwork and I made her get her own lunch. I don't really remember how I started doing her paperwork for her, but we always went to eat lunch together, so that wasn't a problem.

"When she called, she made it perfectly clear that she knew why I had left and she knew that I wasn't coming back. She knows she has to get a replacement; she just needs one that will challenge her, one that is as similar to me as possible," Marshall told Eleanor.

"Stan said something huge happened between you two," Eleanor said.

"How did Stan know that it was something between us?" Marshall asked. Maybe Eleanor would tell him what Stan wouldn't.

Eleanor shrugged. "Only you would make Mary react that way."

"What way?" Marshall questioned, trying not to sound too interested. He didn't want to sound too eager and make Eleanor stop talking.

Eleanor frowned. "I shouldn't be telling you this. Mary would probably kill me if she knew I told you."

"She doesn't have to know," Marshall coaxed Eleanor.

Eleanor sighed. "If she finds out where this information came from..." Eleanor didn't have to finish her sentence.

Marshall nodded. "Got it."

"After bugging me for half a day, Mary found out about your resignation, and after figuring out you didn't even tell Stan you didn't tell her, she just lost it and walked out. She was gone for two weeks."

"Two weeks!" Marshall repeated, shocked. "She abandoned work for two weeks! And Stan allowed that?"

Eleanor shrugged. "Yes."

Marshall shook his head. He wasn't buying it. "There's more to it than that. What's the rest of the story?"

"Stan, of course, went to check on her as she was ignoring calls. Brandi told him Mary didn't want to see anyone; wasn't going to let him. Well, Stan worked around that, and when he got back to Mary's room he heard…crying."

"Crying!" Marshall interrupted. "Mary doesn't cry."

"Stan didn't believe it either, so he asked the sister," Eleanor said. "She wouldn't tell him for sure, but Stan said the sister didn't ever fully deny it."

Marshall shook his head. "There is no way Mary cried for two weeks."

"Apparently, the second week was better," Eleanor confirmed. "She still wouldn't come to work or answer her cell though. Stan went back to her house at the end of the second week, burst into her room and dragged her back to work. He tried really hard to be understanding and give her time, but there were witnesses that needed her. I think this is why he's being so easy on the replacement situation. I mean, he'll tell her to stop torturing the replacement, but that's about it."

Marshall had nothing to say. He really shouldn't be in Albuquerque right now, or ever again. If it had been that rough for Mary the first time he left, he couldn't very well do it again. But he didn't think he could stay either. He was debating on whether or not to even see Mary when Eleanor's voice broke into his thoughts.

"You should really go visit that Tony kid and give him some pointers. Teach him how to get Mary to occasionally back down."

"What, you don't want me to come back?" Marshall teased.

"Oh, no," Eleanor corrected. "I would tell you to come back in a second. Mary may think she doesn't need you, but she does. I just know you won't come back, though, unless Mary asks you. I know she won't do that either. So please help Tony. I don't think I can handle watching Mary torture them all forever."

Marshall nodded as he got out of Eleanor's car. They were at the hotel now and he agreed. "If I decide to leave, I'll pay a visit to Tony before I go."

"Thank goodness," Eleanor said. After that, Marshall shut the door and she drove off. Marshall went into the hotel to check in and to try to decide what he could do. It wasn't that he didn't want to see Mary, because he really did want to; that was basically the only reason he came back to Albuquerque. On the other hand though, he never wanted to intentionally cause her pain. Since he wasn't sure if he was even going to stay he really couldn't go visit Mary and then up and leave when he saw nothing was going to change. He wouldn't and couldn't put her through that much pain again. Then again, he couldn't stay and put himself through that again, no matter how much he might love her. He suddenly found himself wishing he hadn't pushed Eleanor into telling him about Mary's reaction after he left and he almost wished Mary hadn't even called him in the first place.

_So about Mary's reaction to Marshall leaving, I really do think it's plausible. After all, we've never really experienced Mary dealing with Marshall truly leaving her. There was the time she though he was…but he didn't actually go. I hope you guys liked this chapter and if you read I would really appreciate it if you leave me a review. Thanks for reading! _


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